Sony Exec: “No Intention” of Ending Partnership With iTunes

Despite having their e-reader app banned from the App Store, Sony Network Entertainment COO Shawn Layden said the company has no plans of stopping their relationship with Apple’s music service, even though they are launching their own music subscription service, Music Unlimited, in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand today.

“Sony Music as I understand it has no intention of withdrawing from iTunes, they’re one of our biggest partners in the digital domain,” Layden told Business Insider. “I think those words were either taken out of context or the person who spoke them was unclear on the circumstances.”

The rumor started when The Age suggested that Sony might be considering breaking their relationship with iTunes with the launch of their new service. But as many pointed out, Sony – which one of the four largest record companies – would be committing business hara-kiri by ending their partnership. As of September 2010 there are 160 million active iTunes user accounts and 11 billion songs have been downloaded from the service, an Apple spokesperson told Techland. We highly doubt that any new service – even if it’s launched from a well-known brand like Sony – can start out with nearly as many users, and denying your product to a large body of consumers like that seems like a horrible decision.